Título: Usos do Presente em Condicionais Epistêmicas e Genéricas: uma Abordagem Cognitivista
Orientadora: Lilian Vieira Ferrari
Páginas: 191
Resumo
This thesis aims at the analysis and description of epistemic and generic conditionals whose protases and apodoses present verbal forms in the present of the indicative, according to the schematic structure [Se P (PRES), Q (PRES)]. The research is conducted from the perspective of Cognitive Linguistics, in particular, based on the analysis of present tense related to the notions of epistemic immediacy and verbal perfectivity and imperfectiveness (Langacker, 2009). This work argues that, although the conditional constructions analyzed present the same structural form, interpretation of conditionals as epistemic or generic is related to cognitive and linguistic mechanisms.
In order to support this claim, the analyzed data includes conditionals taken from Folha de São Paulo newspaper (1994, 1995) and accessed through the website www.linguateca.com.br. The main hypothesis is that the present tense may express chronological immediacy, but also epistemic immediacy. In addition, it is argued that the activation of generic or epistemic meaning depends on specific syntactic and cognitive aspects.
Assuming this perspective, the analyzed linguistic aspects are: subject types and the notion of perfectivity and imperfectivity of verbal forms. In relation to the generic conditionals, specifically, it is also observed the role played by Conceptual Blending and compression of vital relations in the conceptualization of the generic meaning. Focusing on the contrast between the two conditionals, the research seeks a comparative analysis in order to determine how each of these aspects contribute to the epistemic or generic interpretation of the constructions investigated.